A New York appeals court on Tuesday upheld a gag order against former President Trump in his hush money criminal case.
The order, imposed on Trump by Judge Juan Merchan, prohibits Trump from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff or the judge’s family. That doesn’t stop him from attacking Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D).
Trump has criticized her gag order as a violation of her First Amendment rights, arguing that it prevents her from responding to political attacks perpetrated by high-profile witnesses and others.
“Judge Merchan correctly determined that the petitioner’s public statements posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses in this case as well,” the judge said. decision of the readings from the panel of five judges.
In the decision, the panel compares Merchan’s gag order to a gag imposed on Trump in his federal election interference case. The New York judges sided with the decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to allow Trump’s gag to stand.
“Evaluating these concerns, the circuit court ultimately concluded that, in light of the record, the court had ‘a duty to act proactively to avoid creating an atmosphere of fear or intimidation designed to prevent trial participants and officials from performing their functions within the trial’. process,’” the five-judge panel wrote. “This Court adopts the reasoning of the circuit court’s Federal Restraining Order Decision.”
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over an alleged reimbursement scheme to Michael Cohen, Trump’s then-fixer, who paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 during the run-up to the 2016 election to remain quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. from a previous decade. Trump denies the case, says there were no irregularities in the payments and declared himself innocent.
The former president’s lawyers lamented how Cohen regularly attacked Trump on social media and elsewhere ahead of his testimony, which began Monday, while Trump was prohibited from responding.
On Friday, Merchan instructed prosecutors to tell Cohen that he should make no further public statements about the case.
Merchan also found that Trump has violated his gag order 10 times since it was imposed, ordering him to pay a $1,000 fine per violation and warning that future violations could carry prison time.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
